During the summer, Children's Express went across the country interviewing young people about the importance and meaning of diversity in their lives.
One of the great challenges of adolescents is developing an identity so they can eventually find their places in the world. What we discovered was that no matter how wholesome or successful these children's circumstances, they all wrestled with misperceptions of them and who they think they are. These misunderstandings often had an impact on how they viewed America and their roles as Americans.
We met Denise Swim at the FFA camp in Trafalgar. Rinzer Williams talked to us in his living room in Gary. Teresa (her name has been changed to protect her privacy) was at the Indiana Girls School.
DENISE, 17:
I live on a farm; not a real big farm. We have a few animals. I live at least 45 minutes from Brazil, a half-hour from Greencastle, a half-hour from Rockville. I'm out in the middle of nowhere.
I go to a fairly big school. We get a lot of kids from Terre Haute, which is the next-closest school, so that brings in a few different races.
I'll be a senior. I plan on attending Purdue University and hopefully major in agriculture education and become an ag teacher and an FFA adviser, too.
FFA at our school is not a real cool thing, let me tell you. The community that I live in is fairly rural, and the majority of the kids that go to school (have) a rural background.
FFA, boy, do you get hassled about that up and down - "You're going to be a farmer," and those kinds of things.
A lot of kids will tease you. It's just kind of an ignorant thing. Sometimes I just have to ignore it. But if I have the time, I'd definitely straighten them out.
You think about other countries where everything is just kept a big hush-hush. It really makes you very proud to be able to not worry about those kinds of things and have our choices and freedoms.
I think (what) I probably like most about being an American is that freedom . . . although I feel that a lot of people take it for granted.
RINZER, 16:
I live in Brunswick. When I first moved over here . . my whole neighborhood was Caucasians, hardly no African-Americans. . . . Now it's about half and half. It's a real nice neighborhood. As far as problems, I really didn't have any in the neighborhood.
My father died when I was 8 in a house fire. My mother has really done a great job. She raised me practically by herself.
My home life was based around all adults. All the time I was around older people, so I had to learn quickly and become agile and talk and communicate with them. A lot of my peers used to call me "old man."
A lot of people stereotype one-parent families. They think it's impossible (to raise a kid by yourself). Statistics show that most kids coming from one-parent families are not successful in life. However, that's not true in all parts. I don't believe it's because of the one-parent family. I believe it's because that particular child has to have the desire to become something in life, which I do.
I love golf, and I'm very good in golf. I love student leadership programs. I'm pretty good in all my academics. My freshman year, I was vice president. My junior year, I was the president of the class. This year . . . I'm president of intercity student council and I won governor of Hoosier Boys State. And I'm on the Valparaiso University Leadership Program.
My family really helps because whether you fail or not, you know you have your family's support. There are a lot of people who say, "Don't do that," like when I ran for governor. "
Out of 900 kids (at Boys State), there were eight African- Americans, so a lot of people didn't think I could do it because of that racial difference. But my family said, "If you think you can do it, you can do it."
Everywhere I go nationally, there is a very low percentage of minorities and a much lower percentage of African-Americans. I think society is trying to get rid of that, but it has been there so long that I don't think the African-Americans see that they have an opportunity now, that they can try to reach for the things that were at one time unreachable.
I believe that most African-Americans really need to focus more on what they want in life and not try to satisfy other people.
The average American is trying to find his or her spot in life. You have to come to a consensus with yourself on what you want your goal to be, and most are afraid of making high goals because of failure.
I think the American dream is to be as successful as you can be. America is the land of opportunity. There's no other country like America where anyone can come, no matter what you are - African-American, Caucasian, Asian, it doesn't matter - you have the same opportunity as each and everyone else.
TERESA, 17:
In my neighborhood, you would probably see litter everywhere. You see a lot of graffiti. The houses are real close together and it's polluted because there's a lot of steel factories.
Where I live, it's very segregated. The only white people who live around there are Italians.
So at school, I meet a lot of different races, but where I live it's an all-Hispanic neighborhood. A lot of people's parents came from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Peru, places like that, and they visit there.
I'm half-white. I look a lot like my mother. My skin is pale; I got green eyes. (But) I'm not white. My father was born in Cuba.
When I was younger, I really didn't want to be white. I was really upset with my father for marrying a white lady. I said, "Why wasn't my mother Cuban?" Because where I come from, there was a lot of racism. They don't have no respect for white people.
I would deny everything that had to do with being white. Like I talked Spanish all the time. I only dated Hispanic boys. If a white girl wanted to be my friend when I was younger, I was like, "Hell no," because I was so worried that my friends would think, "Oh, she's so white, look at her."
Now I really don't care.
Today, (in) America, a lot of people need an identity, but (they) are kind of lost. They want to be part of something, and a lot of people can't figure nothing else to be part of but their race.
I think that we can never be the melting pot. Maybe thousands of years from now people will call themselves "Americans," but most people, still, they talk about, "Well, my family came over from Italy." People are more hung up on what nationality, what race they are than being an American. There's like no patriotism at all.
EDITED BY: Amber Bollman, 16, and Lisa Schubert, 15.